1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to home entertainment systems.
2. Description of the Related Art
Home entertainment networks have been provided that can include a set-top box media server that communicates with various components in the home, e.g., TVs, laptop computers, custom display devices, phones, and other electronic devices. Home network communication technologies (e.g., 802.11 wireless, UWB (Ultra Wide Band), PLC (Power Line Communication), etc.) are widely used as their costs decrease. As critically recognized herein, not all devices that may be desired to be placed on the network have the same internal hardware architecture and, hence, one network interface does not fit all. For example, an Ethernet card for a personal computer (PC) usually has a PCI interface and PCI ready, and the Ethernet card can be mounted to an expansion PCI slot in the PC to establish a network interface, while an inexpensive audio product, for example, a boom box, might use an inexpensive 8-bit micro-controller and a conventional 8-bit wide internal bus, thus requiring another kind of network interface than the PC. Simply installing a PCI bus in such a relatively inexpensive device is too expensive and meaninglessly too fast for such a cost-sensitive audio product. Accordingly, to connect various disparate products to the home network, an inexpensive and flexible network interface is required.